U.s. Customs Service Is Starting To Crack Down On Pornography

July 31, 1985

MIAMI — The U.S. Customs Service, primarily known for its efforts in halting the flow of illegal drugs into this country, is cracking down on child pornography and the Miami office is among the leaders in the coordinated effort.

``Child abuse is a major problem in the United States, and child pornography and child abuse go hand-in-hand,`` said Executive U.S. Attorney Leon Kellner.

As part of the nationwide effort aimed at reducing sexual exploitation of children, Customs plans to ferret out everyone who is receiving child pornography from foreign countries, Customs Commissioner William von Raab said recently.

Many child pornography recipients, he said, are child molesters, even though they include outwardly respectable members of the community.

Customs agents have the power to open international mail and packages, and the names of all persons who receive child pornography will be placed on a computer list and made available to local law-enforcement agencies, according to Leon Guinn, Customs investigation chief in Miami.

The Miami program, which started about six months ago, already has produced several federal indictments charging defendants under 1984 sexual exploitation laws.

In the most recent indictment in South Florida, William Wayland of Fort Lauderdale was charged with 10 counts of exploiting minors through sexual activity, mailing obscene photographs and importing obscene photographs of minors, according to Kellner. If convicted, he could face a maximum sentence of 95 years in prison and a $910,000 fine.

Robert Guthrie, a Customs group supervisor in Fort Lauderdale, said most child pornography seized in South Florida is imported from Denmark, the Netherlands and, to a lesser degree, West Germany.

Among the seized items are child pornographic magazines such as Where the Boys Are and Children-Love, as well as a movie of a mock wedding between a 7- year-old girl and a middle-aged man, Guthrie said.

``They go through the whole thing -- preparations for the wedding, the honeymoon, the whole thing,`` he said. ``It`s sick.``

Lt. Denis Shaw, commander of a task force on missing and sexually exploited children that includes the Metro-Dade and Miami police departments and the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, said cooperation between local police deparments and federal officials is ``extremely close.``